Vaccines

What Everyone Needs to Know®

Kristen A. Feemster

Description

Immunization is regarded by many as one of the greatest advances in modern civilization. The widespread use of vaccines has led to increases in life expectancy, reductions in the occurrence of childhood diseases, and is generally credited with saving millions of lives annually.

But since their discovery two centuries ago, vaccines have been dogged by pockets of persistent distrust among those who are skeptical of their science or who find compulsory immunization at odds with personal liberty. The rise of these voices in contemporary culture has contributed to trends of vaccine delay and vaccine hesitancy in some communities -- a chasm between the general population and the scientific establishment that has persisted and grown at times across the last several decades.

Vaccines: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers a scientifically grounded overview of the science, manufacture, and culture of vaccines in the United States and internationally. Aiming to offer an unbiased resource on this hotly debated subject, it provides accessible, authoritative overviews of the following:

· How vaccines work· The history of vaccines· Vaccine policy -- who writes it, and does it matter?· The contents and manufacture of vaccines· Vaccine injury· The alleged link between vaccines and autism· Vaccines and new outbreaks

Written by a leading authority in both infectious disease and vaccine education, this book offers a clear-eyed resource for parents or anyone with an interest in the use, efficacy, and controversy surrounding vaccines. In a subject area defined by partisanship, it offers reliable resource for what everyone needs to know.

Vaccines

What Everyone Needs to Know®

Kristen A. Feemster

Table of Contents

SECTION 1: VACCINES AND IMMUNIZATION: BASIC PRINCIPLES1. What is a vaccine? 2. A brief history of vaccines3. How are vaccines developed? 4. Vaccine financing: who pays for all of this? 5. How is vaccine safety monitored and ensured?

Vaccines

What Everyone Needs to Know®

Kristen A. Feemster

Author Information

Kristen A. Feemster, MD, MPH, MSHP, is a pediatric infectious diseases physician and health policy researcher at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the implementation of immunization recommendations, the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases, and vaccine policy. She is Director of Research for the Vaccine Education Center and Medical Director of the Immunization Program at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Dr. Feemster has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and invited commentaries and regularly provides vaccine education to a wide range of audiences. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.